Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} – vol 40: Summer Fun 5

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~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~



Here are some favorite Instagram photos from the past week.


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Our Lady of Guadalupe. I love the framing flowers.



I have two pretty sunset photos this week.

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On Tuesday, I didn’t have a chance to take my walk so Brian told me I could go take an evening walk. I went to the beach and caught this picture of the sun setting. It was hard not to just take off my walking shoes and wade in the water instead.




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Earlier this week I was coming home from Costco and the sun was setting over Seaside beach (about 15 minutes north of us.) I pulled over to the beach parking lot and snapped this photo. I didn’t use a filter to alter it. This is how it came out. I love it.



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After a long and hard day of playing, nothing makes John-Paul happier than getting cozy in his bed with a book. The other day I was looking for him (because it was too quiet) and I found him in our bed “reading” his daddy’s book. I told Brian that maybe he would finally get a bookworm that just wanted to sit and read on the couch with his dad. He said, “Yeah, good luck with that,” as he ran to stop Matthew from jumping off the kitchen table.



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Matthew loves to feed himself but it also means that we are constantly saying, “Take small bites, Matty!



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I was looking through some old photos and came across this one of Bella at 3 months old. How is it that a decade has passed by so quickly?!




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Weigh-in Wednesday: Vol 12 – Walking & Weight Updates, Virtual 5K & Add Your Link

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**Sharing the triumphs and missteps on my journey towards a healthier physical, emotional and spiritual life.**



It’s a busy day so this is a quickie!

Physical Update


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My walking program of 100 Miles in 100 Days continues. On the day I took this photo the only motivation that got me to climb the hills of Carmel by the Sea was to stop at this restaurant and make sure they still sell my favorite roasted garlic pizza with feta cheese.

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I love the outdoor seating! (Actually, I’ve never even been inside the main restaurant. I always sit outside.) I hope to go there next month for a birthday lunch date with Brian. Hey, whatever works to keep me moving, right?

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This is Week 5 of Lose a Half-Marathon. This week I lost two pounds, making up for my big 0 last week.

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All this walking will be topped off by my participating in theCatholic Exchange Virtual 5K.

Are you joining too? What have you been working on this week? Share your goals, your progress or your missteps. You can share in the comment box or link your own blog post. I look forward to hearing from you! (Note: For some reason WordPress users haven’t been able to comment so you may need to sign in using google or yahoo, etc instead.)

Have a healthy week!

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Downton Abbey Season 3 Update (7/17/12)

I was checking the blog stats and noticed that this month the most hits I received were from people searching for Downton Abbey Season 3 news. (Second was people searching for a St. Anne and St. Joachim novena, which starts tomorrow.) So I thought I’d post a few more photos I’ve seen since my last Downton post on May 1.
Photos

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We all know that Shirley MacLaine will be playing the role of Cora’s mother from the U.S., Martha Levinson. There should be plenty of sparks between her and the Dowager Countess.

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Martha Levinson’s lady’s maid is Miss Reid, played by Lucille Sharp.

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Cara Theobald is playing a kitchen maid named Ivy.

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Ed Speleers plays a footman named Jimmy.

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Matt Miline plays a footman named Alfred.

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Cast members of Downton Abbey took a tea break from their filming of Season 3 to launch the charitable Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Blooming Great Tea Party. The cast of servants includes new characters kitchen maid Ivy (Cara Theobold) and footman Alfred (Matt Milne.) Source: http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk

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Matthew and Mary

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This is my favorite photo. So sweet.

A Snippet of News
In a June 14, 2012 article posted on LA Times.com, it reads in part:

[Julian] Fellowes, battling a nasty bout with pneumonia, was recently putting the finishing touches on Season 3’s last episode. (In a shift, Season 2 will compete at the Emmys in the drama series category.) He says the coming season will find the show’s characters adjusting to life following the Great War, a period of “extraordinary social change” that will dramatically affect everyone at Downton. Oh, and Shirley MacLaine has joined the cast, playing Countess Cora’s visiting mother. Might we expect a throw-down or two between her and Smith’s Dowager Countess?
“Oh, I promise you there will be fireworks,” [Elizabeth] McGovern says. “Beyond that I say nothing.” (Read the complete post here.)

He is putting the “finishing touches on the last episode of Season 3. Yay! Although, we still have quite some time to wait….five months for those of us in the U.S.
Oh, well. In the meantime you can…

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Have a cup of tea…

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…in your Lady of the Manor mug…

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…while wearing your homemade Team Dowager pin…

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…and wearing your Free Bates shirt.

Good day!

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7 Quick Takes (7/13/12): Illness, Books, Family Beds & NFP

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Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.

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I’m Feeling Dauncy – I wasn’t sure if I was going to do QT today since I am a little under the weather. On Wednesday I was up all night with what I thought was food poisoning, even though no one else in the family was really sick and we all basically ate the same thing. Brian said there is a flu bug that is going around and maybe I caught it. I don’t know. I went for my walk this morning and I barely made 1.3 miles. I am still a bit queasy, have a head ache and ache a little. Not really sick but not my normal self either. I double checked my NFP chart…just in case but it is very unlikely. So maybe I do have a bug. Hopefully it is short lived.

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Movie Date… without a date – Brian said I should get out of the house this weekend and just relax and go to the movies or something. (He knows how I love going to the movies.) I used to be phobic about going to places like the movies alone. I always wanted someone with me but ever since I was dying to see the Hunger Games last March, I went to the movies solo for the first time. I kinda loved it. I checked the movies playing at our local theater and all the movies I wanted to see aren’t playing anymore. How is that possible? They barely came out a few weeks ago. Well, I think it came down to either Magic Mike – not gonna happen – or Spiderman. So it may be me and Spidey this weekend.

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Summer Reading – Last year I started reading the book Rachel’s Contrition and although I was enjoying it, I switched over to a Kindle and started reading my books on there. The book was not available as an e-book so it was forgotten on my bookshelf. I found it recently and decided to old-school it and read it in the evenings with a book light. I really enjoyed the story. It is sad but there is a lot of hope and I loved the way St. Therese was helping Rachel to heal and change her way of thinking. I’d find myself during the day thinking, “Remember what St. Therese was saying in that book? You should try having the same attitude, Bobbi.” I have to remind myself like that. I have spiritual ADD.

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Circa: Feb 2010




I’m A Big Boy Now – The reason I have time to read in the evening for 10-15 minutes is because we’ve switched sleeping arrangements for the kids. Bella used to sleep in the same room with Andrew because he would get afraid to be alone at night. John-Paul and Matthew slept in our room. By the time one of our kids is over two years old, we move them out of our room. JP was at the age but we waited until summer to transition him since we anticipated crying, sleepless nights and didn’t want to deal with that on school nights. I am pleased to say that the transition has gone great. After night prayers, teeth brushing, and book reading JP and Andrew are tucked in and ready to knock off. I turn off the light but to ease them into sleep I stay in the room 10 minutes (and read with my book light.) Slowly, the time is decreasing until I kiss them goodnight and just leave.

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WARNING: THIS IS A TMI – NFP TAKE SO SKIP IT IF THAT’S NOT YOUR THING. The other day Brian and I were laughing because when I talked about NFP in a previous post, I mentioned ways to get “in the mood” on green days. I now discovered a top way – transitioning out of the “family bed.” Having a sleeping baby in between you and your husband (literally) can dampen the mood. However, sleeping right next to my husband again has made any “prep time” unnecessary. I’m not saying a family bed is wrong, I am just saying the season after it is really, um, nice. I told Brian it is a good thing we have shared our bed these last twelve years or else we’d probably have 12 kids by now. Which makes me think…that queasiness I have been feeling…am I sure I’m not…no, I still don’t think I am.

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A Guy’s View – Speaking of NFP, I read two NFP posts this week that I really enjoyed. The first is from Camp Patton: Natural Family Planning: A Husband’s Perspective by Michael Hahn (As in Scott Hahn’s son.) It was nice to get a guy’s perspective of NFP. The second post is from Stephanie at Littles Make the World Go Round. Check out her NFP posts where she tells the story of how she got off the pill and placed her trust and fertility into the hands of God.

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Come, Holy Spirit – And speaking of controversial church teachings like the use of artificial contraception, here is an excellent article from Jen at Conversion Diary called A Conversation with My Gay Friend. To be honest with you, I struggle a great deal with church teaching about this subject but this is one of the best down to earth explanations I have read so far. Thankfully, in our faith journey you don’t have to completely understand (or completely agree with) a church teaching but you can humbly trust in the Church’s wisdom as you try to better understand and accept with both your head and your heart.

That’s it for today. Have a wonderful weekend!!

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{pretty, happy, funny, real} – vol 39: Summer Fun 4

round button chicken



~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~



Here are some favorite Instagram photos from the past week.


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I tried a different walking trail this morning. As I got closer to the forest I kept expecting to see a hobbit or elf wandering about.




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If you didn’t see this yesterday, this was also part of the trail.




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One of the buildings in downtown Carmel has a mural of Fr. Junipero Serra and friends.




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Spanish-style stairs.



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The kids started swimming lessons this week. This is the first time Andrew has been swimming and he loved it.




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My hair has been getting close to “rat’s nest zone” so I was happy that I finally got it professionally cut. I’m glad it looks healthy again.



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I saw this sign at one of the shops in Carmel.




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I can tell who was playing with my phone because I have 50 shots of this same pose.



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Yesterday the sun was finally out and we came close to hitting 70 but a few days earlier this is what it looked like in the early morn. (We don’t get out Summer weather until Fall.)




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